Thursday, October 22, 2015

The Stalled, Expensive Benghazi Committee has become Another Misplaced Weapon in the Failed Republican Attacks on Hillary ClintonAll that the committee will do is to show how tough Hillary Clinton really can be.

It is amazing to realize that most of our legislators, be they liberal or conservative, really have no clue whatsoever when it comes to psychological dynamics of politics. After spending millions of dollars and an incredible amount of wasted time, Chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a former prosecutor, has fallen into a classical “bear trap” of his own making. In other words, he was bush-wacked! Remember: No single politician on the present American political scene has more experience testifying in front of a grueling congressional committee than Hillary Clinton. Hillary, better than anyone on that committee, knows the complex variables that are involved in trying to rationalize past mistakes.

I am not condoning her past ineptness as Sec. State as my previous blogs have shown. Yet I do understand what she will do and has done whenever she confronts a situation where she has deliberately or unwittingly performed poorly or inexcusably. The Benghazi episode is a tragic moment in American history because it underlines the basic incompetency of most of our Secretaries of State. That one tragic episode demonstrates a very basic truth about our political elite. They are not competent to serve in the positions to which they were assigned.

Namely, Hillary had no more previous experience in diplomacy than did James Baker, John Kerry, or George Shultz. Each was chosen because they were the friend or political ally of POTUS; who, in turn was chosen for no other reason than he was popular with the electorate. For anyone of these senior officials to act professionally is simply luck and circumstance. Nothing prepares them for the Sec State position other than On-the-Job Training [OJT]. That is clearly not a way to run a business.

If clients came to me because I was popular instead of well-trained in my specific profession of medicine than both my clients and I would be in very serious trouble. So by the very fact that Hillary had not had any prior training in diplomacy or managing a several thousand person organization places her as the ‘fire in hole’. Hillary made the mistakes that a novitiate would make because there was no rational reason to have appointed her in that position in the first place. Therefore, she had to learn to become Sec State at the cost of American lives.

If you think that is unusual, then look at the abysmal record of our Army Generals who have killed more of our soldiers and innocent civilians with their so-called ‘proper military training’ [which is clearly outdated]. Hillary did the best that she could do. No one goes into that position trying to mess up the job.

However, if the American people and their novitiate Presidents have no idea of what it takes to become an effective diplomat, then she and other Secretaries of State, are the pure expression of the will of the people— we want inexperienced political leaders and their completely untutored political associates. Blame that American system that loves professional football players; but that insist on having an “Amateur Secretary of State”.

In my career at the State Department, I do not remember one Foreign Service Officer who was appointed to become Sec State.

Pretty absurd isn’t it?

So, what Gowdy will try to show is this wasteful exercise of taxpayer’s money is the basic reason why he had been elected in the first place. Next he will try to rationalize his having spent over 6 million dollars in a process that will only highlight Hillary’s basic strengths—perseverance; excellent recall of details and facts; and the ability to counter-punch her way out of a boxing match that should never have been scheduled.

Once again the Republican Party has shown that it is rife with arrogance and incompetency. Let’s not even mention air-head, would be speaker McCarthy’s gaff regarding these hearings. Duh, you just gave Candidate Hillary 9 hours of prime time air time for free.The oscar goes to….the candidate who can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’, better than any man I can remember.

The GOP leaders, wherever they are, have proven to be bereft of any political or psychological skills. They have shown an incredible amount of behavior that borders treacherously on stupidity.Witness the choice of Jeb Bush! Even his own parents did not believe he should have been POTUS that is why they preferred to anoint W.

The Republican Party has one more chance to redeem itself. Either it chooses Donald Trump and Ben Carson for their POTUS/VP ticket ---or they might as well join the Boy Scouts of America –where they truly belong. Thanks to their gross negligence and ignorance, they have just made Hillary Clinton a more formidable adversary. The Republicans have demonstrated once again that ignorance is truly Bliss!

Bobble-Head Jeb Bush Flusters in his Defense of George W. Bush’s 9/11 and Trump’s Accusatory Tweets

Ostensibly we, the so-called conspirators, who know that W. and company were the inside players in 9/11 have been ‘marginalized’ according to Bobble-Head Jeb. Marginalized is also the majority because 70% of the population now believes that 9/11 was an inside job. If that is the case, why is Jeb so flustered on TV when he tried to speak coherently in defense of his miscreant brother with regard to 9/11? Watching this, I came to the horrible realization that somehow W. may be more intelligent than Jeb!?!

Jeb has not learned how to keep his mouth shut. When he speaks the most absurd rationalizations come out as if he were still a little boy who had to explain to his mother why he just peed in his pants. Amazingly, Jeb finally gives the same defense of 9/11 that Paul Wolfowitz gave regarding same subject 15 years ago. In response to Trump’s accusations toward his brother, Jeb babbles the old “if you blame Geo W for 9/11 than you have to blame FDR for Pearl Harbor….”

Remember: Paul Wolfowitz, the intellectual poseur, had to provide the most specious arguments to both Rumsfeld and Jeb—if Republicans are to be blamed for 9/11 then the democratic president FDR must also be incriminated for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor [ a ‘stand down’]. As many of you know by now, Wolfowitz’s mentor at the University of Chicago was Professor Roberta Mary Wohlstetter whose major works examined the Pearl Harbor “stand down” on December 7, 1941.

Unfortunately for the Bush family, brains and morality are not highly prized assets. Jeb has finally shown the world how truly inept and childish he has become as his head bobs around and his eyes keep shutting endlessly while he attempts to answer the simple Trump statement that “W. messed up in 9/11.” Clearly, having the same corrupt team that W. had has allowed the American public to see how pathetic the Bush family has become when trying to explain the outright murder of three thousand innocent American civilians.

Jeb will have to leave the Presidential race if only to salvage some vestige of decency in a family rife with crimes, lies and stupidity. Jeb’s blinding ambition to think that he could even become a reasonable candidate for POTUS is beyond absurd. I would love to see the list of so-called ‘mainstream Republicans’ who live in some fantasy land of denial and self-delusion; if they can, for a moment, think that their involvement in 9/11 would not be revealed little by little by us—“the marginalized Americans”.

Whatever else Trump has been able to do; he has been effective in allowing the “Silent Majority” and “Marginalized Americans” to speak loudly once again without fear of reprisal from the state. The longer Jeb continues to stay in the race, the more of a target he becomes for those of us who know the truth about his family and their ignoble acts against the Republic: one Presidential Assassination[JFK] and one False Flag… what else?

Barbara was so right! “Not one more Bush in the White House”. When little boys don’t listen to their mother’s wise advice; they can get into a lot of trouble.

Voltaire, the French philosopher, said it best about Jeb’s frightening responses to Trump’s Twitters:

Sunday, October 18, 2015

“Ebony and Ivory”—Dr. Ben Carson, M.D. [VP] and Donald Trump [POTUS]-- The Next Republican Team to Take Over the White House!

America finally has a team of professionals who have arisen from the ethos of exceptionalism.

A new effective, boisterous type of revolution is guiding, us, citizens, through the maze of a staid, dullard-ridden, corrupt institution -- the American Presidency. For too long, we have been privileged to elect presidents who have never been involved in any activity other than pandering; self-aggrandizement; and engaging in non-accountable activities of process rather than substance. But now, we have two exceptional candidates. Neither has had to stoop down to the crass servitude of the so-called ruling elite—the rich and corrupt. Both Trump and Carson represent the two sides of American Exceptionalism in unique ways.

Theirs is a tale of two different approaches to creating self-worth and admirable accomplishments. Trump had to make his fortune on the back of a powerful father who had already proved his bona fides in the world of construction in the toughest area of America— New York City.

Carson’s history mirrors the exact opposite. He arose from extreme poverty where an African-American mother gave her talented son the specific gifts that only those who are ambitious and smart need—‘the willingness and encouragement to succeed on one’s own’.

I can think of no better ticket for America than to elect these two men as our President and Vice President. Trump’s vigor and self-confidence will resonate through a country stifled thirty years by lies, deceptions and corruptions. Trump’s recent indictment of George W. Bush as the man responsible for 9/11 was the beginning of a lethal thrust into the body of the cowardly, treasonous family from New England, steeped in false narratives and self-delusions. Grandiosity and cowardliness have been the Bushes’ collective calling cards for generations.

Then Trump’s pivot to Obama and his illegal Newtown ‘False Flag’ was another imminent decapitation of those ersatz leaders who dared to intimidate us with ‘gun control’. Dr. Ben Carson earned a stellar reputation as a premiere neurosurgeon at the illustrious Academic Institution --John Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Let’s not forget that Carson, as a trained physician, understands the unique, blaring failures of Obamacare and how to fix it. Remember that neither Trump nor Carson had to curry favor in order to accomplish their goals.

In contrast, we have Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, both the product of ignoble activities and ethereal accomplishments. Jeb Bush is so eager to show how independent he is from his family BUT he is completely incapable of extricating himself from the obvious umbilical cord that tethers him to his big brother and the family’s financial welfare donors. Jeb is the poster child for the pathetic beggar who has cannot make a living without invoking his family name or presumed connections. He is truly a shameful creature of entitlement and ineptness covered with lies and self-righteousness.

As for Hillary, she is a tribute to the axiom that if you repeat a lie enough times, then somehow the truth will appear mysteriously—if the listener is deaf, dumb and stupid. Trump is correct when he directly implicated Hillary as a federal criminal. President Obama has purposefully undermined the venerable FBI Director, James Comey. Comey, along with his team, were committed to proceed with their tedious examination of the truth concerning both Gen. David Petraeus’s serious violation of the National Security Act and Hillary Clinton’s criminal use of private emails. Now, due to Obama, we will not see true justice being meted out.

My recommendation at this point of the election cycle is for Americans to demand a referendum to vote on the Presidency now--- and not wait for 2016 which is an arbitrary date and has no real significance whatsoever. Instead of listening to more inane speeches which simply reiterate past words, we, Americans, should demand an election right now and not wait the absurd thirteen months.

Let the Democrats pick Hillary Clinton and Secretary of HUD, Julian Castro and allow them to pit themselves against Trump/Carson… and let the best/popular team win the election..now. Spare Americans the Disney Land fantasy over the next year and allow us to choose our presidential team now, before Obama ruins this country any further.

I believe in the American Revolution. This time around it does not require guns or violence. All we need to say is that we have had enough and that time is not on our country’s side.

Most other enlightened countries in Western Europe have demanded spontaneous elections that allow them to express their collective dissatisfaction with the ruling party. We, as a country of revolutionaries, can do no less.

Robert Browning, the brilliant Scottish writer, wrote these insightful words:

Saturday, October 17, 2015

POTUS OBAMA Denigrates the Professional Integrity/Investigation of the FBI under Director James Comey!

Over the past few days, I was completely stunned when I heard Obama pronounce in an interview that “Sec. State Hillary Clinton had made mistakes with her personal Email server. But she did not harm national security.” I have already explained in my former blogs how Hillary was guilty of having a personal server for her emails. I have already stated my views that the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department; as well as, Pat Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management at the State Dept., were both culpable in allowing Hillary to commit this travesty of justice.

However, I, like many of my national security colleagues, were waiting for what one institution in the federal bureaucracy would determine concerning the legality of Hillary’s actions— THE FBI. Any hopes that the FBI could conduct their usually professional, extensive, and impartial investigations were immediately negated by the impromptu statements made by POTUS on the TV show, “60 Minutes.” The lawyer, Obama, knew that as an officer of the court he was sworn to uphold the laws of the court. Accordingly, he was obligated to keep his mouth shut regarding any ongoing federal investigations.

In the last few days, Obama has evidenced a real problem with his ability to assess reality-- both in foreign and domestic issues. Without delving into any fancy psychiatric terms, Obama is clearly showing signs of mental fatigue; as well as, erratic, inconsistent behaviors. No recent statement has been more detrimental to the State of the Union than the one he just made undermining the legitimacy of the present FBI investigations into Hillary’s use of personal emails.

Recently, the FBI, in concert with local law officials raided close to 200 child sex traffickers in a multitude of states in order to curb the increasing numbers of child sex sites on the internet. At its core, the FBI under Director James Comey, has been an efficient, politically impartial, effective organization in apprehending alleged criminals of all types.

From the very beginning of Obama’s tenure, I felt that he was a man of few accomplishments and even fewer skills; other than those which allowed him to act in a secretive, dissembling matter. I have stated previously that Obama was born of the CIA family through his mother’s past activities in Indonesia; as well as, his maternal grandparents who were openly declared CIA operatives at the East-West Center in Hawaii. In concert with this type of secrecy and duplicity, Obama initiated all types of domestic False Flags [Newtown Conn., et. al.] . Similarly, he has made absurd declarations of non-existent “successes” like the SEAL raid on an already embalmed Osama bin Laden.

Accordingly, Obama will have the increasingly dark stigmata as a man who deceived the American public on his ascendancy to the Presidency and then manufactured more contrivances and falsehoods in order to maintain his tenure for two terms. The one element of his tenure that I had lauded—The Iranian Peace Accord—was admirable; but not sufficiently worthy of an event in order to override all of his other past and present miscreant activities. Obama’s inability to manage, initiate or maintain a professional demure as POTUS has been one of the most disturbing factors of his tenure.

I have this uncomfortable feeling that as he gets closer to the end of his stewardship, Obama will make more and more inappropriate comments that might compromise the integrity of our different domestic and foreign agencies [ie. DNI James Clapper] in order to salvage the remnants of his stewardship. Also, his off-handed utterance concerning a possible ‘third term’ as POTUS was indeed a dangerous sign of where he thinks he might be heading.

I can assure POTUS that if he tries to enter a third term as a presidential candidate, he will find himself in a quagmire akin to what he had just created in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There will be no third term for Obama. Similarly, Obama will have to recuse himself from the Hillary Clinton investigation. And, if the FBI finds her guilty of federal crimes, then she must serve her term in prison, accordingly. If not, then the rule of law and order will be fractured permanently-- and the tide of anger will awash through this country like an Ebola epidemic-- rife with anger and violence.

Thomas Jefferson stated the following:

“Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on an office, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

[3] German Businessmen Lie on Behalf of Lufthansa and Volkswagen and Greek Bailout.

Most of us are aware of bad habits when they involve personal needs like eating too much fast-food or smoking. We can eventually die from these obsessive behaviors. In fact, there is something quite self-destructive when it comes to bad habits. Same is true for nations and transnational corporations as well.

Recently, I watched as Mark Horn, the President of Volkswagen America, act quite dismissive and very Germanic when he blatantly lied in front of a US Congressional Hearing on C-Span with regards to his colleagues attempts to deliberately lie about emission standards to the American EPA. His Germanic responses, slow, evasive and reasserting the nonsensical response that ‘we have no idea about what was happening’ clearly recalled the bold face-lies of the Lufthansa President when he assured the world that the suicidal co-pilot passed all of ‘the prescribed mental and physical tests required of pilots’. I warn that the German elite and the youth of that country have begun to show again to the world those nefarious character traits that created Two World Wars and the Holocaust.

Lying and purposefully deceiving the world, is a ‘very bad habit’ that can eventually lead to a massive boycott of German goods that would be justified because of their miscreant behavior. When will the Germans learn that lying, cheating and falsifying data on German products and services can eventually bankrupt the state [despite Merkel’s/Frankfurt countermoves]?

Next we watch as the Israelis and Palestinians start a street brawl on the very narrow lands that separate the two “West Side Gangs”.The sad story is that this sado-masochistic dual has to stop at some point in time; lest they both end up destroying each other.Their bad habits are repetitive and tiresome. In fact, the appearance of Hamas rockets and IDF jet fighters have become a predictable scenario which will lead to a worldwide weariness where no one with legitimacy to stop this nonsensical fratricide will even care. Relief will only be realized by the self-extermination of both entities by whatever means.

Don’t forget the inimitable Turkish President Erdogan, who has the nastiest habit of creating friction points, deaths, explosions as well as ISIS in order to assert what he considers to be his proper role in the Middle East. Although the American’s allowed you to attack ISIS [read PKK/Kurds] that does not mean that you are in a position to continuously kill and destroy over thirty million Kurds who want to have a ‘place in the sun’ without conflicts. Erdogan has been warned repeatedly about his ignominious, barbaric bad habits. Alas, it appears that he is quite obstinate and refuses to change his ‘behavior’ when in fact it hurts the Kurds and the Turkish people.

If one lives by violence, then one must die by that very same modality. It’s simply a question of time as to when and where an inevitable assassination will take place. Bad habits are function of several determinants—history, culture, national psychology, and motivation. Contrary to the simplistic Behavioral Theories of Skinner and Pavlov, these habits cannot be modified by carrots and sticks. More sophisticated determinants are involved in de-conditioning bad habits of any of the aforementioned people/nations which allow that entity to basically self-destruct. If lying cannot stop then lying becomes the fulcrum of the strategy that will force the Germans to destroy themselves.

Similarly, if Israel and Palestine cannot seek any accommodations then confrontation will be the inevitable end of these two insignificant entities.They can fight until they exhaust themselves or completely eradicate each state into oblivion.The world will be no worse for that end—except that Jews and Arabs will continue to fester their thousands of years of resentment until another conflict will arise to demonstrate the inutility of that hatred.

As for the Turks, they must decide what they really want to be—a major power in the Middle East representing the Sunni majorities or an asterisk in the history books alongside the “Ottoman Empire”.

So, my dear readers, bad habits have a way of erupting at strange times and places; but by their very self-destructive nature they eventually end in self-termination with the skilled interventions of other more mature countries which cannot afford to tolerate this type of behavior.

Yet the Democrats spoke overall about issues not in Ad Hominems like the Republicans. It was an interesting evening at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The crowd was boisterous and the performers, five Democratic Candidates, were accomplished. Each played their respective roles as they were directed. Even the CNN moderator, Anderson Cooper, switched from his inane cherubic countenance into a referee at a prize fight—tough and relentless.

The key performers, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, acted as prescribed by some ethereal Hollywood script of the 1940’s. Bernie became the reflection of a street smart kid-visionary who utters prophetic statements and goes into the boxing match with the full gusto of the Socialist actor, Johnnie Garfield. Hillary Clinton, true to form, was poised and reactive like Joan Crawford in the Academy Award movie—“Mildred Pierce”- the story of an ambitious self-driving waitress cum restaurant owner who has been denigrated for being both crass and boorish.

In the case of Hillary, she has shown time and time again that prevarication concealed within facts and figures can sound convincingly endearing, if not compelling. The ancillary actors performed as expected—on cue. Even the literary fighting Marine, Jim Webb showed some fortitude as a decorated Vietnam Warrior. Martin O’Malley, the ex-governor of Maryland, a state without tax abeyance, sparked up at certain moments of levity.

For the most part, I can say that overall the Democratic Acting Company is far more impressive than the Republican Touring Group which has morphed into caravan of clowns. I was entertained last night because my expectations were so low. In fact, I realized that after this initial performance of the Democrats and the two former so-called ‘Republican Debates’---I will tune out. There is something comical and pathetic, as our presidential candidates are paraded around in a circus of whirlwind tours across the country, in a meet’n greet pantomime that signifies very little.

In the 21 Century, an election process should be simple, press a button for those who represent your interests and be done with it. However, as the Presidency becomes increasingly irrelevant and the Federal Government becomes top-sided with ineptness and corruption, then not voting becomes a far more salient issue for me.

As we have not punished any of the previous Presidents for their inequities [well documented in my past blogs], what difference does it really make to me whether I get Hillary Clinton or Donald Duck---both quack in a somewhat disturbing way.

I ask a simple question that was brought up last night.

What happened to our civilian and military leaders who wasted Six Trillion Dollars on the useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Where are they now? Have they lost any body parts or their lives for a crass, financial enterprise called, ‘War’? I think not. As for me, when no one pays his/her dues for their gross intentional miscreant behavior, then all bets are off as to who should ostensibly be the figurehead of this Republic.

H.L. Mencken, the American essayist, wrote the following:

“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”

Monday, October 12, 2015

Congressman Daniel Webster [R-Fla.] as Speaker of the House of Representatives!

He has been in Florida Legislature 20 Plus Years and has been responsible, fiscally conservative and effective.

The recent departure of John Boehner [R-Ohio] as Speaker of the House of Representatives has been apparent for some time. Contrary to the hysterical cries from the mainline Republicans and the liberal press decrying the inevitable ouster of Boehner and his protégé, air-head Kevin McCarthy [R-Calf], we do not have a ‘party of Jacobins’ [Wash. Post].

Change is hard in any time and in any place. There is no institution that requires more transformation than the staid body of K Street Mannequins which we call ‘the mainstream Republicans.’ Clearly the American people are disgusted with their so-called proxies in the legislature. The personal agendas of these representatives have overridden the needs of their constituents whom they may have visited from time to time.

I do not know Daniel Webster personally. Yet he represents my North Central Florida area with a history of a man who has been considered serious, effective and quite conservative. He may not represent all my values regarding marriage or abortion; but that does not preclude him from advocating for streamlining the federal entity that has blown out of complete proportion to its intrinsic value. If that means that he will lead a coterie of slashers and cutters of a bloated federal budget/bureaucracy, I am for it. Currently none of our present legislators have been willing to subordinate their own private ambitions to the good of the nation. Think Paul Ryan, who dreams of becoming Secretary of Treasury in a future Republican Administration. That may never happen but that is his prerogative.

As for the more immediate contender: Rep. Jason Chaffetz [R-Utah], a spright, former Jewish football player who attended Brigham Young University and converted to Mormonism. He has the requisite personality traits of a chameleon [read sociopath] who will conveniently adjust to whatever political mandates appear profitable. Chaffetz profile reeks of opportunism in all levels of his life. He conveniently transformed on cue from one religion to another to seek the support of the powerful Mormon/Utah family, the Huntsman [multiple billionaires]. Then, he discovered somewhere in his rise through a herbalife-esque Ponzi scheme that his highly intellectual degree in communication and bull-speak was designed for a political career in the Democratic Party. Yes, he was a Democrat when he was a Jew and a Republican when he became a Mormon. A real switch-hitter! Next he found himself in the middle of several investigations on the TSA and Secret Service that served little purpose than to piss off these major agencies. He has accomplished nothing which is par for the course.

Republicans, choose smartly. If you fail this test, then just resign and allow the country to shut down until more effective desperate measures have to be invoked in order to make this country run efficiently. BTW, those measures do not entail a greater executive power for POTUS.

Change from within is preferable…

However, if it is not feasible, then change will come from outside and the people of this country will demand a ‘Jacobin Revolution’ [whatever that really means.] Be careful for what you wish for ……

Sunday, October 11, 2015

By now everyone in the world has seen Russia engaged in combat in Syria. 26 Kalibr Cruise Missiles fly from the Caspian Sea into Syria, targeting various groups which primarily are against Bashar Assad. Concomitantly, Iranian Revolutionary Guards as well as Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are directly confronting those same elements. Remember: many of these groups were created by the Pentagon as well as others created by CIA.

So what does this all mean?

If one looks at carefully at the battlefield, one can become quite confused, if not disoriented by the shifting kinetics at any given moment. Yet, basic propositions have become more clear with respect to Putin and his relationship with the USA [read Obama]. After almost a year, Putin has honed his skills in the Games of State. Last year, he found himself tied down in the Ukraine supporting “separatists”. However, he quickly pivoted around from there; initiated the Minsk Talks led by Byelorussia, and then prepared for his premeditated incursion into Syria as he watched Americans falter time and time again.

He understood that our rapprochement with Iran was an attempt to reconfigure the Middle East map where Iran, Russia’s erstwhile ally, and Turkey would be the new dominant powers as America withdrew to Asia. Putin systematically created small skirmishes around Moldova and Central Asia in order to show that, despite a failing economy and the US embargo, he could still maneuver around the periphery of the former Soviet Union. In fact, he moved some of his planes and submarines along the northern tier countries of NATO and potential NATO countries to warn them that it would be problematic to engage Russian forces. Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Norway and Finland were notified that there would be increasing friction with Russia, if they put NATO troops [read American troops] in the Baltic areas.

Putin became increasingly restless as Turkey allowed American fighter jets to land on Turkish air bases from which they could better attack Bashar Assad’s government forces. Once again, Putin saw that the chessboard was showing a not too subtle incursion into Russia’s former Soviet territories and allies. Putin remained exacerbated by the US bombing of Russia’s closest ally, Serbia, during the Balkan Wars in the 1990’s. Putin had to create a strategy which would demonstrate his resolve to act on behalf of the perceived national interest at a time when Russia was embroiled in domestic problems.

Over the past years, Putin saw Obama hesitate to act in Syria, rightfully or wrongfully. He also witnessed America’s continuous military/civilian ineptness in dealing with Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. He realized that our senior military officers and POTUS had no idea of how to conduct effective counter-insurgency strategies. This U.S.G. ineptitude was followed by even more failures in trying to institute post-combat nation states. Putin calculated correctly that America was faltering as a presumed super power.

At that point, he quickly allied himself with America’s new business partner, Iran, to assure himself that he could be part of the newly created hegemony in the Middle East. That would allow Iran, the Persian Empire, to re-establish itself against the CIA-created ISIS, Al Qaeda et. al. Putin chose to ally himself with Iran against the former American Sunni allies –Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, Bahrain, and Jordan. Putin, who has always been a close friend of the Jewish State, assured Bibi that the Russian missiles and jet fighters would not come next to Israeli air space [which is in fact quite small].

Putin had all of his chess pieces ready to move over the past four months. He built a tight alliance with Iran [while Iran fought with USA in Iraq]; Hezbollah [thousands of volunteer fighters]; and Bashar’s dwindling forces. The long distance missile strike from the Caspian Sea into Syria was intended as a clear message to all American allies that Russia could easily attack them with precision without even having to leave it’s warm water ports of the Caspian Sea. He placed combat troops [of all types] on the ground while he provided massive air coverage. This was a clear message to the world that Putin always is true to his word about protecting his allies. In contrast, America has never been effective in ‘crossing the red lines’.

Putin has reaffirmed what anyone who has worked with and against the Russians knows: Don’t Mess with them! He embodies everything about Russia that is both admirable and bewildering. The Russians will always come to a friend’s side, if that person is really a Russian friend. The Russians are true to their word. If they make a deal with you and you play straight with them, they will be forthright. Yet if a Russian suspects that you may be too clever by-a-half, then they will play you like an accordion, jerking you around till you have had enough and quit.

Above all, Russians like to play and drink. If they feel you are not with them in temperament or in spirit, they will make certain that you will learn to respect them one way or another. I am not a big drinker but when I worked with the Soviets in Moscow and Tbilisi, Georgia, I had to toast, drink and learn to keep my wits about me while doing the necessary business. The essence of Russia is relationships that they can respect and be respected in turn.

Instead, we provoked them in Ukraine and insisted that Russia had then ‘annexed Crimea’ when in fact Russian troops and ships have been there for over well over one hundred years. Americans are perceived as childish and naive when we do not have political/military leaders who know anything about Russia other than the simplistic caricatures that are presented by our neocons and war hawks who have never really been on the front lines with or against the Russians.

Putin picked off our weakness as he became more enfeebled economically. He was warned to cease and desist his provocative actions. He has made his decision. He will continue to fight in Syria and elsewhere until he justifies the millions of lives that had been spent in creating the Soviet Union. The Battle of Stalingrad, where he had lost many of his relatives, is the primary paradigm for his defiance and resistance. He knows all too well, unlike most of our leaders, that Russia really won WWII because by the time that battle was over, Nazi Germany had been defeated. Yet, we never sent a senior official to the 70th Year Memorial of The Soviet Victory in WWII.

Big Mistake!Now, we pay for all those slights and indignities that we incurred in our stand-off with Putin. Let’s see what chess moves he has left and hope that sooner than later, our POTUS starts to play at the same level. That does not mean going into Syria and fighting an ephemeral enemy. It means that our next moves must be thought out very carefully.

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About Me

Dr. Steve Pieczenik is a critically acclaimed author of psycho-political thrillers and the co-creator of the New York Times best-selling "Tom Clancy's Op-Center" and "Tom Clancy's Net Force" book series. He is also one of the world's most experienced international crisis managers and hostage negotiators. His novels are based on his twenty years experience in resolving international crises for five U.S. administrations.